TasTAFE is offering a free online literacy tutors’ course to all adult Tasmanians as part of the Government’s commitment to improving Tasmania’s literacy rates.

More than 50 Tasmanians have recently commenced TasTAFE’s Tutor Adult Literacy Learners (TALL) course, which enables adults to improve their literacy and numeracy skills.

Supported by Libraries Tasmania’s Literacy Team, more than 1000 tutors were trained by TasTAFE in the previous course, but it was only available to people joining Libraries Tasmania’s volunteer literacy service.

There is nothing like this course in Australia, and there is a big need, with TasTAFE already receiving requests from interstate to deliver the training commercially.

The essential knowledge course participants learn allows them to mentor employees, colleagues, a neighbour or friend, and help them build their skills. It’s about creating a network of support for Tasmanians who don’t yet have the reading, writing and maths skills they want.

University of Tasmania Adjunct Associate Professor, Terese Henning, is about to complete the course so that she can volunteer as a literacy and numeracy tutor with Libraries Tasmania.

Assoc Prof. Henning worked at the University of Tasmania for 30 years before retiring, but says the skills needed to teach literacy and numeracy are completely different.

“I’ve been a teacher for more than 30 years but that doesn’t mean I know how to teach the basics of literacy and numeracy.  Teaching is not just a skill you can transfer to any situation, it’s a body of knowledge that you need to be able to apply. The knowledge needed to teach someone literacy and numeracy is quite different from teaching something like law.

“I’m very grateful that a course like this was on offer because I wouldn’t have been confident in understanding how teaching literacy and numeracy should be done without it.

“The TasTAFE teachers are splendid in the way they have structured the course material and the approach they have adopted. They’ve used tools like discussion boards and webinars and have provided really quick feedback to participants. I think they do an excellent job,” Prof. Henning said.

TasTAFE works closely with 26TEN to promote the training to member organisations and supporters.

The next free Tutor Adult Literacy Learners online course for Tasmanians will be delivered in term 3, starting 20 July.